The first thing of note for this game is that Chris Stewart has been called up to replace the injured Willsie. Willsie is out from a knee to knee with Jordin Tootoo last night.
http://avalanche.nhl.com/preview/GameNotes.htm
Listed above is a link to the pregame stats, something of note is that only Lappy has the A next to his name. I truly believe the A's are being handed out on a game to game basis, depending on performance. Hejduk was awarded one
The tale of the first period is that it is scoreless after 3 penalty kills by the Avs. Penalties continue to be a sore spot for this team int latest stretch.
The story of the second period is Svatos vs. Turco. Svatos came very close to winning that battle on a breakaway when he hit the cross bar. Toby Peterson scores on a tip in off of a Modano shot. Good looking goal. The Avs power play looked useless in the neutral zone. Can we get an assistant coach who can run a power play please?
The third has been a very North/South period. The Avs have sustained consistent pressure at extended periods of time. It just seems like they are still struggling to just find the back of the net. Even with the win against the Wild, the Avs seem to be struggling, and letting Goalies get into their heads.
Marek Svatos is finally rewarded with a goal in the final minute of the game. Svatos is getting his game back, has a jump in his step, and he is returning to the danger zones that are his bread and butter. His 5th goal of the season.
Shootout Summary
Richards-NO
Wolski-Score
Brunnstrom-NO
Svatos-NO
Ribeiro-Score
Hejduk-NO
Modano-Score
Smyth-NO
Stars win the shootout.
Wolski continues to make goalies look stupid in the shootout. Budaj was robbed by an amazing shot by Modano, shows exactly why he is arguably the best ever American born player.
Controversy? Maybe, take a look at the replay with the possibility of a thrown stick with Turco on Smyth's attempt.
On to general Avalanche discussion. The trend with the picks of the Avalanche seems to be big, and fast. A good sign. Stewart showed good speed tonight, and he is 228lbs. David Jones is in the same category. Hensick is not huge by any means, but playing with these guys in the LE Club is a good thing. Big guys open up space for the skilled guys.
Smyth played fairly well, and looks very determined to score tonight. He and Turco look like they have had their battles as well.
Stastny earned another point tonight on the only Avalanche goal. Good dish right in front for the Svatos goal.
Hannan loosened up tonight as well. He carried the play several times into the offensive zone, and was defensively responsible. Looked more like the guy I remember working against Sakic several years ago.
That is all for tonight. Hope all of you are having a great holiday season.
Well written blog tonight. I wasn't able to watch the game, but I guess we got hosed by the worst team in the West. It's true, we need a good power play. In order to get that we need a bomb from the point.I have no idea who we could get for that without giving up some key components of our future.Not to mention the PP needs to look less like a passing drill and more like a shooting one.
I was personally impressed by Stewart. He skates hard to front of the net and can outmuscle anyone on the ice. Put him on a line with Hensick, who can pass better than anyone else on the team and he'll pocket a few goals.
Believe it or not, Dallas looked better without Avery in the line up. Since his suspension they are 2 wins, 1 loss. Turco played very was 2nd NHL star of the night. We don't have a bomb from the point, but what we need is for someone from the point to hit the net. The problem last night was that the lines were kind of jumbled a bit, and there never really was any flow to the power play. The Stars did a very good job of not letting the Avs get the puck deep in the offensive zone. The Stars also ran and aggressive forecheck all night long, which opened up the ice on both ends. The game got progressively better and better to watch.